


Collab With Me

by orphan_account



Category: The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: M/M, YouTuber!Newt, YouTuber!Thomas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-01
Updated: 2015-06-01
Packaged: 2018-04-02 08:38:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4053652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If Newt and Thomas were YouTubers ...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Collab With Me

"So in conclusion: don't make bets with your friends. You're just gonna faceplant in front of twenty three-year-olds who're gonna laugh at you, and your friends will never let you live it down. See ya, guys - Newt out!"

Newt shut off his camera and took it off the tripot. It was time for the less pleasant part: editing.

He'd been in the YouTube business for about eight years and was finally proud to say he got paid enough to get by doing something he loved. He wasn't sure how it'd happened, how he got to be among the top ten when it came to the numbers. His subscribers counted up to several millions, a number that didn't reflect in the views on each video, but he still loved them all. Even the dumbasses that kept spamming "FIRST!" on every single one of his uploads.

They were a dedicated audience. They supported him with all of his projects and never something he'd take for granted. He was more than aware that, without them, he wouldn't have this career.

When he was twelve, he'd created his YouTube channel NoImNewt. Definitely no one of his brightest moments but now he couldn't bring himself to change it. It had stuck with his audience, had become part of his brand. If he were to change it now, he'd probably have to deal with actual backlash.

Settled down at his desk, he plugged in his camera and opened Sony Vegas. This would take hours.

* * *

Hot chocolate in one hand, he returned to his desk chair. Ninety-eight percent of the upload was complete - thank god. A few minutes later, he copied the link to his Twitter and Facebook and sat back. The first comments rolled in fast on YouTube and Facebook, closely followed by a flood of Tweets.

 

> **@NoImNewt** you need to collab with **@ThomasToldYouSo**

"Don't know who that is and don't care", Newt mumbled.

He didn't do Collabs. When he was hanging out with friends - YouTubers or not - he wanted to spend time with _them_ , not make a video. He'd gotten asked several times, by close friends and complete strangers, but he always declined. He'd made sure to let his audience know about it as well but it seemed like they just wouldn't take the hint.

After liking and retweeting a bunch of his fans' comments and responses, he checked on his video. 301+ views - nothing abnormal there. Several hundred likes already - he must've uploaded at a good time, wow. His comment section was growing rapidly so he hurried to scroll through all the way to the bottom. Than back up again past all the "FIRSTS!"s "EARLY SQUAD WHERE YA AT!" and other inane remarks. He replied to several compliments with a "thank you" and various emjois and continued to scroll further up.

 

> _you need to check out ThomasToldYouSo! you guys need to collab, it'd be so cute_

"Who _is_ that guy?"

Newt spotted the channel's name several more times.

"Okay! Bloody hell", he muttered while typing it into the search bar.

The channel itself was the first thing to pop up, followed by his most viewed video. The icon showed a dark haired guy holding a _Captain America_ shield that covered his face from the nose down.

"Definitely a nerd", Newt said to himself and clicked. "Only forty videos ... must be new."

His newest had over two million views and several thousand likes.

"How is he that popular already?"

The video started.

"Fuck, he's gorgeous!" He paused. "Okay, I get it now."

 _"Hey, YouTube! Thomas here!"_ tall, dark and handsome said on screen.

"Hellooo Thomas", Newt muttered.

 _"I really need to thank you guys"_ , Thomas continued.

Newt quickly paused the video to let everything sink in. Okay, so Thomas was gorgeous, that much was certain. With his dark eyes and mussed hair and unexpected but perfectly fitting tone of voice, Newt was already hooked. And then he also appeared to be around Newt's age. And with the background of his video, Newt was also sure he was a total nerd. His light blue walls in the background were covered with movie and comic book posters and adorable fanart from his viewers and of to the side was a shelf stacked with DVDs and books. What the fuck had Newt just gotten himself into?

He took a deep breath and clicked play again.

 _"I'm pretty new here as most of you, and I really, truly never thought I'd get this much support - especially this early on - but here you are! So many people ... god, I'm getting stage fright!"_ He chuckled. _"Anyway, I'm getting off track. So for this video, I thought I'd give something back! At the end of my last one, I told you guys to write your questions in the comments and send me some on Twitter, if you'd like and holy shit! That you did."_ He held up a small stack of paper. _"I printed them out and there are like ten on every sheet ... and this isn't even half of everything I got. I took the liberty to take out the ones asking for my phone number or address or something similar because hey - I might not be Bruce Banner but I'm not dumb."_ He shuffled through the papers for a second. _"But let's get this show on the road."_

The first questioned showed up on the bottom of the screen. _"_

 _'What's your favorite movie?' This is already getting too difficult ... uh ... I don't know. It changes like, every week, but at the moment:_ Captain America - the Winter Soldier _. I mean come on - the tragedy, the humor, Sam Wilson and Natasha Romanoff? It doesn't get much better than that! I can't wait for Civil War - I'm so ready for that movie and I still can't believe that Bucky wasn't in_ Age of Ultron _! Disappointed! But yeah, there's your answer."_ He smiled at the camera.

 _"'What's your favorite Superhero?' You guys are evil. It's like picking your favorite child! Okay, I don't have any of those but still!"_ He stared into the distance for a few seconds. _"Maybe Steve Rogers ... or Natasha ... or Pietro ... Pietro "_ He wiped a fake-tear from the corner of his eye. _"He's alive, guys, I'm telling you. This is not just denial."_ He shuffled the papers again. _"Anyways - moving on! 'Who's your favorite YouTuber?' Hey, an easy question for once!"_ He grinned at the camera. _"NoI'mNewt. I mean look at him! He's so adorable and witty. You just gotta to love him! Man, I'd give an arm to collab with him ... don't judge me, a boy can dream."_ He averted his eyes with a small smile. _"Oh, I'm gonna get so much shit for that in the comments but I won't deny it - I've got a small crush on the guy. Just a small one! But his videos are so good and he's been around here for so long and he's the reason I started doing this in the first place! Anyway, enough of the fanboying."_ He looked back at the camera. _"But go check him out! I'll put a link over here-"_ He pointed to the _Deadpool_  poster behind him were an annotation appeared. _"And in the description below."_

Newt paused the video. His face had heated up violently watching that. "This did not just happen", he muttered. He rubbed over his face and ruffled his hair a little. "Oh my god." He took a deep breath before he finished the video. When he was done, he took another moment to gather himself before scrolling down to the comment section. But not to read what the viewers had to say, but to leave a comment himself.

The blinking cursor seemed to mock him.

"What do I write, what do I write", he mumbled.

 

> ' **@ThomasToldYouSo** Hey, Thomas! I thought I'd drop by and say thank you for the compliments and promo! ;D P.S.: I'll thank you properly in my next video, promise!'

Newt clicked post and went back to Thomas's channel. He watched several other videos, just to see what his general content was about before clicking subscribe. He thought about following Thomas on social media as well but decided to go one step at a time. Maybe later, after Newt had shot the video he'd just promised to Thomas. 

* * *

He woke up the next morning with the urge to work out a script. So while he munched on his breakfast, he flipped through his idea notebook until he found something to inspire him.

It was already closing in on evening when he got to setting up his camera, light- and sound-equipment. Cross-legged on the carpet in front of his bookshelf, he pressed record.

"Hey, losers!" He paused. "Nah, I'm just kidding. Seriously. People have just been bugging me about getting an intro catchphrase, like I'm not a bloody dinosaur on this website that doesn't need to abide to anyone's rules. Anyway, I digress. So as you probably already noticed, I'm not on my bed like usual. But you've seen this bookshelf before so don't you worry, I haven't moved. It's just that I've been asked to do this bloody video a billion times-" He mentally made a note to edit a bunch of comments flashing onto the screen with dramatic music later on. "-and now I'm finally doing it so _stop nagging me_! It's my book recommendations. Yay." He kept his expression bored and voice deep. He could do stuff like that with his audience, they knew he was joking.

"So first off, we got _Skulduggery Pleasant_. An amazing book series and probably also my favorite." He'd have to film the mentioned books later on to show them while he put this part as a voice-over. "It's got magic and sarcasm and a female lead that starts her adventure as a twelve-year-old and remains the main character all the way till the end. She's strong and badass and funny and gets proper character-development along the way. There are also several more female leads with different personalities and goals so there's actually no imbalance to the male leads for once. Then there's also this skeleton-dude, magic, fight scenes, battles, war and _all the beautiful bloody sarcasm_ \- it's brilliant!"

"Next up is one of my favorite authors: Michael Grant! His books are a lot darker and grittier.  _The Messenger of Fear_ is one of my favorite's of his. _The Gone-Series_ is also pretty high up my list. It's like a mix of Stephen King's _Under the Dome_  combined with _X-Men_ ..." He went on for several more minutes, going through all of his favorites including everything from the _Percy Jackson Universe_  and the _Chaos Walking Series_ by Patrick Ness until he was sure to have enough material for a video of proper length.

"Now, before I go, I'd like to give you another recommendation - not a book but one of my fellow YouTubers. Thanks to some persistence from you guys, I checked out some of the videos from a YouTuber called Thomas aka ThomasToldYouSo - wonder where he got that name from - and I gotta admit, I was really flattered after seeing his last video." Newt offered a small smirk and cocked an eyebrow. "So I'd like you guys to show him some appreciation if you got some time on your hands. And that's it from my side. If you want to, you can check out my last video by clicking either over here or the link in the box. Newt out!"

* * *

He uploaded the video the next day after an annoyingly long time of editing and rendering. 

When he went back to his notifications, he found one from Thomas's video. Beside several hundred likes on his own comment, he also got a reply from Thomas himself.

 

> **@NoI'mNewt** oh my god, Imeanholyshit, is that really you? are you trolling me? I can't believe it. you actually watched this? OH MY GOD! this is the best day of my life right after my graduation ... wow ... just ... I can't right now ... I'll get back to you on this after I calmed down

Newt chuckled at the reply and decided to leave another comment:

 

> **@ThomasToldYouSo** slow down there, mate - it's gonna be okay. I'm just another nerd with a lota luck, no need to be nervous. And your videos are really high quality - way better than my early stuff (which is embarrassing). You definitely deserve the big audience you already got ;D 

The winky-face was probably too much but Newt tended to put them at the end of his comments most of the time, he wasn't going to stop now. After he'd hit post, he went back to his own video.

It had already gotten its first few hundred views, likes and comments. Several discussions about books and authors had started in the comment section, together with a few all-caps comments from the overlapping audience between himself and Thomas. They were freaking out to the max and yelling at him about collabing or at least meeting. Some of them were literally begging for a selfie of them together. Newt couldn't help but chuckle. It was strange but also weirdly endearing how emotionally involved they seemed to be.

He picked one of his favorite comments and typed out a reply. 

 

> **@NewtmasFTW**  First of all: I'm not even gonna comment on that username but yes, I've read it. And second of all: It's 5 months until VidCon so ... I'm not making any promises but I will be in the States for it. And people who happen to be there, I might just bump into...

* * *

 

Thomas had left a huge adorable Thank-You-Comment under Newt's video and three days later, a new video went up on his channel where he rambled out another shout-out at the end. Newt shouldn't be getting this flustered over it again.

Newt followed Thomas back on Twitter and Tumblr after that. Every now and again, they'd sent a teasing comment at each other or start a debate about new episodes of shows they both watched or movie trailers that dropped they both were excited for.

Two weeks later, they added each other on Skype where they'd chat almost every day, even if only for a half hour where they were both free. What Newt learned from that was that Thomas was an incredibly fast typer that didn't give two shits about typos. Sometimes Newt felt like he needed a deciphering key to figure out the scrambled mess of a sentence.

Three weeks after Thomas's video was posted, they settled on a time for their first video chat. And Newt was nervous. If just a little.

He ran his hand through his hair as he waited for Thomas to pick up. He did so quickly and with a happy grin in place.

"Hey!" Newt smiled.

 _"Holy shit, it's really you!"_ Thomas called out.

Newt chuckled. "Yup, in the flesh. Who'd you think you were talking to all those weeks?"

_"I don't know! A Newt-bot?"_

"Yeah, of course. I have several of those on all social media sites, just in case."

_"I knew it! Those YouTube comments were just too nice to be true."_

Newt rolled his eyes fondly. "You dork."

Thomas faked offence. _"Nerd."_

"That's not an insult."

_"Neither is dork."_

"True that."

 _"So anyway",_ Thomas said. _"How are you? What's up? Any plans to come to the US?"_

"I'm good, not much, and yes - for VidCon."

_"But VidCon's so far away!"_

Newt shrugged. "I'm sorry. But I don't have the money to just fly overseas 'cause I want to."

Thomas looked down at his shirt sleeve and started fiddling with the button. _"I could come over."_

Newt raised his eyebrows. "What?"

 _"I could come over"_ , Thomas repeated. _"I've never been to England but I always wanted to go. I've been saving up money for a trip to Europe anyway, so I might as well use it to see a ... friend."_ He sounded so nervous, so unsure, it made warmth pool in Newt's chest.

"That'd be amazing, Tommy, but I can't ask you to spend your savings on me."

Thomas looked back at the camera. _"But I want to! If you'll have me, I'm happily gonna hop on the next plane!"_

"Wow there, slow down! There's no rush. We need to think this through first."

Thomas visibly deflated as he nodded. _"Okay, so ... is there a hotel near you?"_

Newt rolled his eyes. "I'm not gonna have you stay in a hotel, you bloody doof. I've got a guest room with a nice and comfy fold-out couch. You're gonna can sleep there."

Thomas's eyes widened. _"Really?"_

"Yes, really. It's already enough you're gonna spent money for a flight, I definitely won't let you spend even more on an ugly impersonal room."

"You're so awesome!" Thomas gushed. "I love you, Newt, seriously. Now, I'm gonna need to know which flight to take and when and what to bring and you need to help me make a list or I'm gonna leave the most important stuff at home..."

Newt's brain was still stuck on _'I love you'_.

* * *

Two weeks later found Newt at the airport, waiting for a dark-haired guy he didn't really know all that well, and who was going to stay at his place for an unplanned amount of time. It now occurred to Newt now real-bloody-fast they were moving along in this 'relationship'.

Maybe it was because they watched each other's videos and thus already knew quite a lot about each other without having to ask first. Or maybe it was because they'd chatted for hours on end for weeks. No matter the reason, Newt was there at the airport without the intention of leaving alone.

Newt had only been waiting for twenty minutes when he spotted Thomas in the crowd. When they locked eyes, both their faces lit up and Thomas set off into a sprint. When Newt had pictured their first proper meeting, he'd never pictured getting tackle-hugged but it wasn't exactly an unpleasant surprised. With Thomas's luggage at their feet, Newt wrapped his arms around Thomas to keep himself from falling. Their laughter was muffled by each other's shoulders.

"Should've known you were a bloody cuddler", Newt said, his voice muffled by Thomas's jacket.

"Too late", Thomas replied, squeezing tighter. "Can't send me back now." He swayed them slightly and pressed a smacking kiss to Newt's cheek as he let go.

Newt shook his head fondly as he watched Thomas grab his luggage.

"What do ya say?" Thomas asked. "Ready to show me the famous film set of all your videos?"

Newt grinned. "Yeah, sure. We've gotta walk though. Parking around here's a bitch and it's only fifteen minutes by foot, so..."

" _Fifteen minutes?_ " Thomas whined. "You take one of my bags then." He took off his backpack and pressed it into Newt's chest.

"And you seemed so polite and sweet in your videos." Newt shook his head but shouldered the backpack anyway.

"Acting."

"Did you just quote a meme?"

"Maybe."

"The one with Sir Patrick Stewart?"

"Maybe."

"Fuck it. I'll pay for that hotel room."

* * *

Fifteen minutes and two flights of stairs later, they were both gasping for breath like the 24/7 desk-sitting losers they were.

"I hate stairs", Thomas got out as he leaned back against the wall by Newt's front door.

"Tell me about it."

"You know these things that lead uphill and are mostly found in front of or inside of buildings? Yeah, I hate those."

Newt shot him a glare.

"What? You said I should tell you about it!"

"One more of these and I will actually put you in that hotel."

Thomas cocked an eyebrow and stepped through the now open door. "Too late, I'm already inside."

"God save us all", Newt muttered.

He took them into the guest room right away to drop off Thomas's bags. It was a room of average size with yellow walls and light wooden furniture. A black fold-out couch took up the center of the floor and was already covered in fresh sheets. The only decoration were a few movie posters up on the wall Newt did not just put there because of his guest but because he'd been planning on doing it ever since he moved in. Yes, that was precisely the reason.

"I cleaned out the cabinet so if you want, you can put your stuff in there", Newt explained with a small hand gesture. "My room's right across the hall and the bathroom's down there. Uh, there's towels in the drawer and an adapter is already in the socket by the bed."

"You're literally the best host ever", Thomas replied. "And holy shit, this room is literally nicer than my entire apartment. You don't happen to be looking for a roommate?"

Newt chuckled. "Get settled in while I order us some pizza."

"Plain cheese!" Thomas called after him.

"I know!"

Thomas didn't reappear until the delivery girl rang the doorbell. He pushed to pay for half but Newt persisted. 

They'd settled down on the couch in front of the TV where Newt switched through channels until he found a _Friends_ rerun. As soon as Thomas had swallowed his bite, he went off on a tangent about how big of an asshole Ross was.

Newt listened attentively. 

"It's so cool to be here", Thomas said eventually during a commercial break. "I mean, I've seen all these rooms in your videos at some point." He looks around himself. "It's so surreal."

"It's just a flat", Newt replied.

"But it's _your_ flat."

"I do pay the rent", Newt agreed.

"You don't really understand how famous you are, do you?"

"I'm a huge geek that sits alone in his flat, talking to a bloody camera - what's so great about that?"

"You influence the lives of so many kids! Without you, I'd have never started making videos and now I pay my rent that way. You've changed my life without even knowing me. I think that's quite special."

"You made that decision for yourself, Tommy."

"I never would've gotten the idea in the first place if it weren't for you! I've no idea what I'd be doing right now if I hadn't stumbled over that one video last year."

"Please stop. You're making me nervous."

Thomas chuckled. "Why?"

"Because! I don't wanna be responsible for hundreds of kids dropping outta college to start a YouTube career. What if they don't get a deal? What if it doesn't work out? What if their parents start blaming me for giving their kids ideas?"

"It wouldn't be your fault! You never told them to start!"

"Still ... I don't wanna direct their lives. I just want to entertain them, make them laugh on occasion, maybe make their days a little brighter every now and again."

"That's what you're doing!"

"And I want it to be just that - no more, no less."

"Calm down, Newt." Thomas bumped their shoulders together and took another bite. "You're a positive influence, don't worry."

Newt hesitantly lifted his own slice. "I hope so."

* * *

"It's already dark out! Why's it already dark?" Thomas asked several minutes after midnight.

"'Cause you're in England."

"It's irritating."

"It's time-zones."

"I don't like it."

Newt chuckled.

"I'm so jetlagged already", Thomas whined.

"Don't worry, I've got a messed-up sleep-schedule anyway. I'll stay up with you as long as you want."

"Aww, thank you."

Less than an hour later, they were watching Willow Rosenberg skin a guy.

"Evil Willow's scary as fuck", Thomas commented.

"Everybody deals with their grief differently."

"They usually don't walk around killing people."

"Well, people shouldn't kill the girlfriend of powerful witches."

"Buffy got so sad, so quickly. I can't deal with all these characters dying."

They watched the rest of the episode in silence.

"You know what we should do?" Thomas asked a few seconds after the end credits started.

"Huh?"

"We should do a live show on YouNow."

Newt raised an eyebrow. "I haven't done one of those in ages."

"We'll do it on my account, I promised to do one on the first Thursday of every month when I first started."

"Which would be tomorrow."

"Yup."

Newt shrugged. "Alright, okay, sure."

"Almost like a collab", Thomas said smugly.

Newt lightly punched his shoulder. "Shut up."

* * *

They walked around town the next day. Thomas was busy buying random crap in almost every store while Newt was doing his best to talk him out of it.

"How're you gonna get all this stuff back to the US?" Newt pressed.

"It's called luggage, Newt."

"You're suitcase's not that big."

"I'll just buy a second one!"

"You shouldn't-"

"I literally need that porcelain cat!"

"No!" 

Armed with three bags, Thomas talked Newt into getting some crepes for lunch.

"They only make sweet crepes, Tommy, that's not lunch."

"Nutella's the most important food group, I _need_ it. Right now."

"Fiiine."

Newt had to take one of the bags from Thomas to allow him to eat. They were just about to continue walking when two teens walked up to them.

"I'm sorry but you're Newt, right?" one of them prompted. Their skin was dark and their hair pulled up into an afro puff. "And you're Thomas? From YouTube?" 

"Yeah! Hey!" Thomas replied cheerily.

"Our audiences really do overlap, huh?" Newt said, smiling at the two.

"I can't believe you guys actually met up!" the other teen, red-haired and with a full face of freckles, said. 

"It was Tommy's idea", Newt responded.

"Yeah, I'm the brains in this relationship." Thomas leaned in to rest his forearm on Newt's shoulder.

Newt shook him off. "Shut it."

"Could we take a photo with you? Both of you?"

"Yeah, sure", Newt answered. "What're your names?"

"I'm Donna and this is Jenny", the black-haired girl, Donna, replied.

"Well, nice to meet you Donna and Jenny!" Thomas said happily. "I'm Thomas and this is Newt."

"We know." Jenny chuckled.

She took out her cellphone and handed it to Donna who told them to scoot closer together. Thomas took this as an invitation to put his arm around both Newt and the girl. They both ended up slouching to get down to Jenny's height. 

They ended up taking a whole bunch of pictures, pulling all kinds of faces with every single one of them being the one taking the photo. They chatted for a few more minutes after all cellphones were packed away before the girls thanked them and walked away with flushed faces and happy smiles.

"They were so cute", Thomas said. "Even if I have to eat my crepe cold now."

"I'm so lucky, actually", Newt replied. "Aside from that one creepy person who licked my neck when I hugged them, I've only ever met lovely viewers."

"Yikes." Thomas pulled a face. "Sounds like you had a close encounter with a cannibal."

"Apparently, yeah."

Back in Newt's apartment, they flopped down on the couch in the living room. Newt allowed himself a few moments of laziness before he picked up his laptop and curled up in the corner.

"Hey, Newt", Thomas said. There was a smile in his voice as he leaned closer to look at the screen.

"Hm?"

"Let's post a selfie."

Newt frowned and looked up at Thomas. "I thought you wanted to surprise them with the live show?"

Thomas waved it off. "Nah, I bet those two already posted the photos anyway. And if not that, several others will have seen us. So we might as well make it official. Also, I'm kinda curious how many people would tune in if they knew."

"Don't turn this into a social experiment."

"I'm not! Aren't you at least a little bit curious?"

Newt sighed and put his laptop on the coffee table. "Okay, fine."

"Ha!" Thomas called out. He unpocketed his cellphone and pulled up his camera app. "So I'm thinking you're gonna kiss my cheek."

"Yeah, no."

"Why not?"

"I'm not queerbaiting our audiences!"

"Wait, I thought you were gay?"

"I am."

"And they know I'm bi."

"You are."

"Then how can it be queerbaiting?"

"They're gonna think we're dating."

"They're just gonna think we get along well", Thomas argued.

"You underestimate the shipper nature of these young adults, mate. They're gonna think we're rushing into this like Romeo and Juliet. And that relationship was unhealthy and didn't end well."

"You comparing us to Romeo and Juliet? You wanna take this to the next level, sweetheart?"

"I've only known your for five weeks and it's already too much."

"Shut up, we're soulmates. Now kiss me so I can make a cute selfie and get a million notes on Twitter and Tumblr."

"I can't believe you're making me do this for the views." Newt watched Thomas and his unfaltering resolve for another moment before he sighed. "Let's just- do it, come on."

Thomas held up his phone, centered their faces and leaned closer. Newt watched him on screen for a moment before he closed his eyes and leaned in. When his lips brushed smooth skin and light stubble, he lingered for a few seconds until he heard the flash went off. His entire face was tingling, even after he'd pulled back.

"Satisfied?" he asked when he'd gathered himself.

"Very", Thomas replied. He dropped his head on Newt's shoulder as he flicked his finger across the screen. "Aww ... look at this." He tipped his phone for Newt to look at. "We're so adorable!"

Newt didn't even know what to say. So he said nothing.

Beside him, Thomas was tapping on his phone. A few seconds later, Newt's own cell dinged with the notification of the posted picture.

"What'd you put as caption?" Newt asked.

"Check for yourself."

Newt shrugged off Thomas he leaned forward to fetch his laptop. He went on Twitter and immediately saw the photo with Thomas's huge dumb grin and his own pursed lips. Part of him died on the inside looking at it. He just wasn't sure if it was from embarrassment or giddiness. Maybe an unpleasant mixture of both.

"My inner fanboy just passed out #livingthedream", Newt read out loud. "And to think I've been seen in public with you."

Thomas, the dork with his heart on his sleeve, didn't even look up when he answered. "Hush, you love me."

Newt didn't reply.

* * *

They'd spent hours next to each other, scrolling through Tumblr and showing each other pictures, vines and videos between long comfortable stretches of silence.

"Hey, what time's it in the US?"

"Uuh ... 9pm I think", Newt answered.

"Time for the live show!" Thomas grabbed the laptop right out of Newt's hands and opened a new tab.

"Rude."

Thomas flung his phone into Newt's lap without looking up. "Go on, send off a Tweet. Tell 'em we'll be there in ten minutes."

"You're so bossy", Newt replied but complied anyway. He didn't bother to log into his own account, instead using Thomas's.

> **@NoImNewt** here! Me and this weirdo are on YouNow in 10! This is not a drill!

"You done?" Thomas asked.

"Yup."

"Did you post on your account too?"

"Nope."

"Why not? Are you ashamed of me?" Thomas teased, feigning hurt as he put his hand over his heart.

Newt rolled his eyes. "Geez, you're difficult." He pulled out his phone and opened the Twitter app.

"It's worth it for all that you gain."

"And what is that?" Newt asked while retweeting the message from Thomas's account.

"An amazing new friend with potential for more?" Thomas suggested.

At this point, Newt couldn't be sure whether Thomas was actually flirting or if this was just his general attitude toward his friends. "Wow, I must've saved a kitten from a burning building in a previous life or something."

"To get me, you must've saved at least two or three."

Newt laughed even while shaking his head. "I admire your confidence."

"Comes with the awesomeness", Thomas replied as he looked back at the screen. "Ooh, hold up! I think we're on!"  He put the laptop on the coffee table and scooted closer to the edge of the couch.

Newt leaned in until they were both captured on screen.

"Hey YouNow!" Thomas offered a small wave.

Newt raised his hand in greeting. "Hey!" He looked at the side of the screen. "Look, Tommy, I think we're trending."

"Newtmas?" Thomas chuckled. "That our shipname?"

"We've already got a shipname? I'm impressed."

"Remember Minewt?"

"Me and Minho?" Newt snorted. "I'm actually still convinced Minho made that one up himself." He paused. "Wait, how do you know that?"

"I told you, I'm a fan."

"How do you even manage that with your big ego? Don't you just think everyone's beneath you?"

"Me?" Thomas gasped.

Newt lightly pushed him. "Yeah, you!"

Thomas pushed him back.

Newt pursed his lips and smacked Thomas over the head. 

Thomas feigned another gasp and jumped to tackle Newt onto the couch and mess up his hair which ended in a full-blown, cliché, childish back and forth of pushing and hair-ruffling until Newt called truce when he remember what the fuck they were supposed to be doing instead.

 

When they looked back at the screen, Newt's face was still burning with laughter. "I'm so sorry, guys, how're all..." He glanced at the number. "Bloody hell! Over _nine-hundred-thousand_ of you?"

"Not even a million?" Thomas pouted.

Newt smacked Thomas over the head again. "Shut up, you ungrateful bastard!"

"Look the number's growing! I bet we're gonna crack the one million!"

"I hope we don't break the website."

"It'll be fine."

"I think we should check the premium messages."

"Oh, right." Thomas traced across the pad and tapped the icon. "Kelly asks if we're dating." He chuckled. "I wish."

Newt threw Thomas a glance and looked back at the screen where the chat had just blown up. "You're breaking the internet."

"Sorry. Next one! Sophie says we're adorable - aww, thanks Sophie. Lucy asks if we're dating as do Luke, Anya and Melanie. Shoutout to all of you! You're getting the same answer as Kelly!"

"Joe in the chat asks how long you've been here", Newt read out and looked into the camera. "He only got here yesterday."

"Newt let's me stay here. I got the fancy guest-room. You should see it, it's awesome." Thomas grinned. His eyes followed the chat, or at least tried to. With how fast it flashed by, it was almost impossible to keep up with. "Yeah, Annika, I agree."

"What?" 

"Annika says we should sleep in the same bed instead", Thomas answered. "Just imagine: we could cuddle all night!"

"You mean you could suffocate me in my sleep", Newt responded.

Thomas pushed him back into the couch but in his haste, his foot banged into the coffee table which Newt bark out a laugh and Thomas hiss in pain. "I think I hurt myself _and_ the table."

Newt patted Thomas's hair in sympathy. "We literally suck so bad at entertaining the audience."

Thomas curled into Newt's side for a second, presumably stewing in his pain, before pulling back to pick up the laptop. He settled for balancing it on his raised knee between them. "I think they're plenty entertained."

"I doubt it."

"No, see! Alex, Jody, Fangirl ... with a string of numbers, Sonya and a whole lotta others agree that we're being funny."

"If that's true, you guys are way too easy."

"You're saying you wouldn't watch a three hour movie about the Avengers hanging out and marathoning TV-shows."

"Hmm ... would Bucky be in it?"

"Yup."

"And Sam?"

"Yup."

"What about Wanda and Pietro?"

"Those too."

"Yeah ... I'd watch it", Newt admitted.

"Told you. You're just as easy."

"We're not the Avengers, though. We're a buncha losers with white privilege and luck."

"Yeeeaaah, you got a point", Thomas admitted.

Newt cocked his head. "You know what should happen?"

"Hm?"

"Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. mash-up with the next Avengers. I wanna see Fitz and Simmons meet Bruce and Tony."

"If Simmons is still alive", Thomas pointed out.

"She is."

"Denial?"

"Yes. And I think we're getting too far off track here."

"Shit, you're right." Thomas's gaze flickered back down to the chat. "Linda says we should open a collab-channel."

"I don't do collabs."

"You're kinda doing one right now."

Newt stared into the distance for a few seconds as he thought it over. "Nah, it's different. I don't have to put a lota work into this. There's no editing and stuff. We're basically just hanging out."

"Uh-huh."

"Shut up. We can't do it anyway. Tommy lives a six hour flight away from here. If not more."

"Hey, I could move here."

Newt recoiled a little. A difficult feat considering how Thomas was plastered against his side. "What?"

Thomas shrugged. "I don't really have any family left and I don't have friends outside from YouTube so it's not like I'd leave anything behind."

"I think we should discuss this later."

"Okay, sure." Thomas looked back at the screen. "Uuh - Steve asked if we have a song!"

* * *

They ended the live show after an hour with smiles and 'bye's and waving. Thomas put the laptop on the couch beside him before he leaned back against Newt. "I wanna watch a movie."

"Anything specific?" 

"You got _Kingsman_?"

"I got it three days before you got here."

"Cool. Put it in."

"If you got off me, I would."

"But you're warm and comfy."

"And I'll still be when I get back in thirty seconds."

"But I don't know if it's gonna be the same."

"Tommy, I swear to god, you're the most annoying house guest I've ever had."

"It's an apartment so wouldn't it be an apartment guest?"

"Oh my god", Newt groaned. He dropped his head back against the cushions.

After about five minutes of not moving and silence, Thomas shifted a few inches to put the laptop on the coffee table.

Newt took his chance and got up to start the movie.  

They both flopped back down in the same spot seconds later.

* * *

After three days of goofing around, watching too many DVDs, meeting up with other YouTubers and eating unhealthy food, Newt brought their live show conversation back up.

They were sprawled over Newt's bed with Newt propped up against the pillows and Thomas lying at the foot end on his stomach as he fiddled with his cellphone. Newt's feet were buried under Thomas's side to keep his toes warm.

"Hey, Tommy", he started. "You're really thinking about moving here?"

Thomas shrugged. "I mean, I've considered it." He threw a glance at Newt. "My parents died in a car crash five years ago and I'm an only child so I don't really have family to consider."

"I'm really sorry", Newt said quietly.

"It's okay, I've come to accept it. It's not like I try to keep it secret or anything. And I don't know, after they were gone I moved in with my grandparents so I had to switch schools. I mostly kept to myself during those last two years of high school, never really made any friends and after that, in college, I was too busy to worry about forming deep relationships. There were like, three people I've ever felt a connection with from those years and we just drifted apart after I graduated."

"What about your grandparents?"

"They never really liked me. They're very religious and never really forgave my mom for getting pregnant before marriage. And never marrying after either. Not that my parents never loved each other or anything, they just thought it was pointless. My mom always said: 'I don't need papers to show my love and I can eat cake and throw a party whenever I want to'." 

Newt smiled sadly. "She sounds awesome."

"She was. And she'd want me to be happy. And I'm a lot happier here than I've been back home in the last five years."

Newt wet his lips before he said the words that would change his life forever. "You know what?"

"Hm?"

"I think I could need a flatmate."

Thomas's smile could light up the room.

* * *

They'd been living together for several months now. And even when they still weren't actually together, they kept flirting and teasing and touching like an actual couple would.

Their fanbases had adjusted to the changes easily and, at this point, they pretty much shared their entire audiences. Newt was pretty sure there wasn't a single frequent viewer that only watched one of them.

Only three weeks into moving in, Thomas had managed to talk Newt into opening a Collab Channel. They used it to upload Q & A videos, Let's Plays and Vlogs of their meet-ups and so on.

Currently, Newt had just finished talking Thomas out of vlogging their trip to the airport. It was already chaotic enough just with them trying to pack and leave on time. They needed to be out of the front door in an hour and hadn't really started packing until five minutes ago. Newt blamed Thomas for his optimistic nature. If it had been Newt alone, all bags would've been ready and put beside the front door two days ago.

"Fuck, Tommy! Please tell me you've seen my VidCon t-shirt!"

"The black one?" Thomas called from his room across the hall.

"Yes!"

"Threw it in the laundry after I dropped pizza on it yesterday!"

Newt took a deep breath to calm himself. "Why were you wearing my t-shirt in the first place?"

Thomas leaned back to peak into the room through their open doors. "It smells like you and I was lonely?"

"I was gone for six hours to visit my parents!"

"Six hours can be a very long time, Newt. You should know that, you were in school, too."

Newt pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. He felt a headache coming on. "You could've picked _any_ t-shirt and you had to pick the one I need for this trip."

"It's not compulsary, you know?"

"But it was from my first ever VidCon, Tommy."

"I'll buy you a new one - it'll be from our first VidCon _together_." Thomas audible went back to his packing.

Newt sighed and followed his example.

* * *

They were sitting on the plane with Thomas on the window seat, looking giddy as ever as the plane took off. How he was that existed at the prospect of several hours cramped in this hell, was a mystery to Newt.

The flight was as long, annoying, stuffy and too warm as Newt would've expected. And he couldn't even sleep on planes so he was stuck watching whatever was on the TV above the seat two rows in front of him, or listen to music. If the WiFi would've been any better, his suffering would've been far lesser.

From the airport on, they took the subway to their hotel since cabs were fucking expensive. Their hotel room turned out to be quite nice with its clean sheets, carpets and curtains and hair-free shower.

They didn't even bother unpacking when they got there, they were too massively jet-lagged. After establishing that yes, there was only one massive bed-frame with two mattresses, they collapsed on top, watched TV for three hours and fell asleep.

The next day was spent on their laptops where they were messaging back and forth with YouTubers they wanted to meet up with the following day.

VidCon day forced them to wake up at eight and get showered and dressed in minutes since they had to walk to the Convention Center. It wasn't too far, they were just slow walkers when sleep-deprived and dealing with leftover jet-lag.

"Hank and John must be so proud of this", Thomas said as they walked through the streets of California.

"I'm sure they are", Newt replied, subtly checking the signs to confirm they were still heading the right way.

They reached the building twenty minutes later. It would've been ten but Thomas got distracted by two separate cats and three separate dogs.

"Five floors of pure awesomeness", Thomas said in awe after they'd stepped into the air conditioned building.

"Wait till it's packed full of people. Gonna be a lot less awesome."

"Look who it is!" a voice exclaimed. "It's YouTube's poster couple!"

"Hey Minho", Newt got out before strong arms wrapped around him and Thomas, squishing them together uncomfortably.

"Look, Alby! I found your OTP!"

Alby's laughter could be heard even before he stepped into their field of vision. Minho let them go to give them a chance to talk to Alby, but kept his arms around them.

"Hey guys." Alby was grinning. "How're you doing, Thomas? You're a first-timer, right?"

"Yeah. I'm a little nervous, to be honest. I've never even met half the YouTubers that're gonna be here today."

"You'll be fine, and I'm sure Newtie here won't leave your side for a second."

Newt ignored the heat creeping into his cheeks. "Shut up, Alby."

"Come on, guys!" Minho exclaimed, letting go off them to clap his hands together. "We've got some organizing to do before this thing starts!"

* * *

"I'm so tired", Thomas moaned, dropping onto the bed.

"My feet hurt", Newt groaned. He faceplanted beside Thomas.

"It was fun but I think I'm dying."

Newt didn't bother with an answer.

They fell asleep with their jeans on.

* * *

 

When Newt woke up the next morning, Thomas was already sitting with his laptop balanced on his knees.

"How're you awake already?" Newt mumbled, forcing his eyes to stay open.

Thomas looked at him. When he noticed him struggling to stay awake, he smiled. "Got a lota energy." His gaze lingered on Newt.

"What? What is it?" Newt rolled onto his side and rubbed at his eyes.

"You're just so cute." Thomas grinned. He didn't give Newt the chance to respond. "And I wanted to show you something." He looked back at the screen.

Newt blinked himself awake and pushed up until he rested up against the pillows and could peek over Thomas's shoulder.

"Look at all the pictures of us!" Thomas said. "They've even started writing fanfiction about us. And there're YouTube videos and there's fanart and look at this - they've got _headcanons_! We've inspired all these people just by being ourselves!"

Newt glanced at Thomas and back at the screen. "I'm concerned about how much you're enjoying this."

"I just think it's adorable how much they care for our happiness."

"Uh-huh." Newt crawled off the bed. "I need to wake up. I need a shower." He was already halfway to the bathroom. "And don't read any creepy fanfiction while I'm gone!"

Clean, with brushed teeth, in a pair of sweatpants and his new VidCon t-shirt, he felt a lot better. His hair was almost dry by the time he got back to Thomas who was apparently still focused on his laptop. Newt sat down beside him and scooted closer until they were pressed side to side.

"You're literally reading fanfiction", Newt stated. "Really, Tommy?"

"It's really captivating! We're barely out of character and look! They even got your fond eye rolling!"

"Fond eye rolling?"

"Yeah, you do that when I say something really awesome and/or sweet, but you don't wanna admit how awesome and/or sweet it is, so you just roll your eyes when it actually means you love me."

"You're really that sure of yourself, aren't you?"

"Well, I just know how great I am."

"I don't know why I put up with you."

"You'd miss me if I left."

"Yeah ... yeah, I would", Newt admitted. "What's this about anyway?" He nodded at the screen.

"It's about me trying to get you to do the chapstick challenge."

"The what now?"

"The chapstick challenge. It's this thing where one gets blindfolded and the other one puts on chapstick. Then they kiss and the blindfolded one's got to guess the flavor."

"Oh-kay. People are weird."

"Yeah. They are. But this is actually really cute because you're secretly in love with me and nervous that I'm gonna find out when we kiss."

"Why am _I_ the one secretly in love?"

"'Cause you're quieter than me."

"I'm actually pretty loud, thank you very much. You're just overly spastic."

"Am not."

"You are and you know it and you love it so shush."

"Pff", Thomas made. Then he returned to his reading.

Several minutes passed in silence.

"Hey, Newt."

Newt jumped up and walked away from the bed. "I'm not doing that stupid challenge!"

"But-"

"No!"

"You're mean!"

"You're mental!"

* * *

It was a week after VidCon and they were in the middle of an _Iron Man_ marathon. At 3am. The jet-lag was intense this time around. Or maybe they were just self-destructive in that way.

"You know what I'm looking forward to?" Thomas asked.

"Hm?"

"The _Deadpool_ movie."

"Me too", Newt agreed. "I got high expectations for that one."

"You know what else I'm looking forward to?"

"What?"

"Our first kiss."

Newt looked over at Thomas, lying with his head on the armrest and his legs sprawled over Newt's lap. For a moment, Newt was stunned into silence. "W-what?"

"I mean, it has to happen eventually, right?" Thomas seemed relaxed. As if he were talking about what they should have for lunch and not changing the status of their relationship.

"Uh..."

"I've been flirting with you for months now and you always seem flustered, not disgusted or uncomfortable, so I'm guessing you've been waiting for _me_ to make a move while I was just waiting for an obvious signal from _you_. But I've realized that  _I'm_ the Captain Obvious in this relationship, not you, so this is me, being obvious."

"Uh..." Newt repeated intelligently. He kept staring at the screen where Stan Lee's cameo played even while he could feel Thomas's eyes study him.

When Newt didn't respond, Thomas sat up. His legs stayed on Newt's, even as he put an arm on the backrest and reach out to tug at Newt's collar. "Okay, Newt, I've got a proposition for you", he started. "The way I see it, we've got two options here: you can turn your head and kiss me, which would make this relationship official, _or_  you can pull away, tell me to fuck off and we'll never speak of this again. The latter of course doesn't imply that our current friendship has to change but if I've made you uncomfortable in any way, I can start packing right this minute and get out of your hair by tomor-" Thomas was cut off by a pair of lips on his.

He froze against the gentle pressure and didn't move until Newt buried his hands in Thomas's hair to better the angle for the both of them. Surprisingly, Thomas didn't kiss with urgency. He kept it slow, a gentle drag of lips. It felt like exploring, like a new beginning, like the good kind of change. Yet it also felt familiar, like 'hello', and 'it's you', and 'why the fuck haven't we been doing this all along?'

"God, do you ever shut up?" Newt asked after they'd finally pulled apart. "Talking about moving out like some kinda idiot."

"I wanted to be respectful."

"Very honorable, you bloody doof." Newt didn't give Thomas the chance to respond before he leaned back in.

* * *

They were sitting on Thomas's bed, knees pressed together with the camera set up before them on its tripod.

They'd mostly been using Thomas's room for filming these days since they slept together in Newt's room and keeping that room neat was nearly impossible. There were always crumbs on the sheets during the day and clothes strewn on every surface at all times. Sometimes a towel or two even laid spread out across the dresser to dry. Newt's parents would probably get a heart attack if they saw the state of their place.

Newt switched on the camera and settled back against Thomas.

"Hey, losers", Newt started. It wasn't his fault the phrase had become so popular among his audience. He only gave them what they wanted. "So it's a good day today ... at least for some of you, I presume. If that's not the case for you: I'm sorry, it'll get better, I promise."

"You're making me sad right now."

"Had to be said."

"Okay, well, depending on the title of this video, you might've guessed that we're ... a couple now! Yay! Hurray for me!"

"For both of us", Newt corrected. "Newmas or Newtmas or whatever - is officially canon now, I guess." He looked at Thomas. "Seriously though, I don't really understand this shipping-name thing. I mean, why're there two?"

"Guess they couldn't agree on one", Thomas mused. "But _any_ way! We're together now, we've done it, the deals been sealed and that sounded bad, I apologize, that's definitely not what I meant!"

"You better edit this part out or I swear to god, I'm never letting you upload anything on here without it going through me first."

"Yeah, yeah, promise."

Part of Newt knew Thomas would keep it in but he didn't comment on it. "So what we were saying is: we're together now-"

"Finally, by the way!" Thomas cut in. "If it'd been up to me, this would've happened months ago!"

Newt cocked an eyebrow.

"It's true! I've been flirting with you since the day we met!"

"I thought you did that with everyone!"

"Dude, you found my videos because I was gushing about you on the internet", Thomas deadpanned. "In front of a shit ton of people."

"Fine, okay, I get it. You got a point. It _was_ my fault."

"You guys don't even know half the stuff I did. I threw signals in his face twenty-four-seven and he brushed 'em off like nothing. Maybe I'll tell you someday, we'll see."

"Don't you dare!"

"Hey, now, that's not how you treat your boyfriend."

"You know what? I think I'm gonna name this video 'The Break-Up'."

"You wouldn't."

Newt studied Thomas's face for a moment. "No, I wouldn't." He sighed and looked back at the camera. "Now I'm stuck with him for life and it's all your fault. Look what you've done!"

Thomas leaned in for a short but sweet kiss, just a simple press of lips. "They did a wonderful thing, be nice to them."

Newt couldn't help the smile. "Yeah, whatever. So Newtmas or Newmas or whatever, it's canon! Feel free to tweet at us or whatever. Uh, tell us how stupid I've been to not get on this ship sooner or whatever."

"That was a lot of whatevers", Thomas pointed out.

"Whatever."

* * *

Two weeks later, they did the Chapstick Challenge. It was pretty weird.

 

 


End file.
